Alison Ruttan’s work is about genetic destiny. Inside the three Michigan Avenue galleries of the Chicago Cultural Center, we see how human nature plays havoc with communities through two parallel series.

At the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit’s “People’s Biennial,” curators Harrell Fletcher and Jens Hoffmann have selected a group of established artists to, in turn, choose their own non-art world collaborators. But “outsider art” hardly begins to cover the kinds of creative practices on display.

It’s not a new idea to try and recreate the artist’s studio inside the gallery. “Material Affair,” though, fortunately proves that the idea can be carried out in a way that doesn’t fetishize the artistic process. “Material Affair” presents the artist’s studio not as a clichéd, Joyce Pensato-style, paint-splattered sanctuary, but alternately as a workshop, a storage facility, and a place of compiling and categorizing that contemporary, multidisciplinary artists will certainly find true to life.

When EXPO Chicago started in 2012, the popular opinion was that President and Director Tony Karman had five years to make this fair great. If he couldn’t, it was likely dead in the water. This weekend marked year three of the midwest fair, and exhibitors and attendees remarked on the palpable momentum. 19 Chicago galleries participated, the highest number yet, and EXPO continued to draw galleries from around the world, including repeat exhibitors like New York’s CRG Gallery who has been on board all three years, and Diana Lowenstein Gallery of Miami, who has been exhibiting at Chicago fairs every year since the 90s.

CHICAGO —EXPO Chicago week is upon us. Let’s assume you’ll spend at least some small amount of time at the piers for the fair. But let’s also assume you’ll get sick of it. When that happens, check out some of the local exhibitions on our list of recommended shows. Or take the “Art After Hours” program on Friday night shuttle bus tour. It’s free and everyone likes free!

This film documents the history of Chicago’s most famous art movement that introduced the world to artists like Ed Paschke, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, and Karl Wirsum, and brings to light the lasting effects of the city’s 1960s-era avant garde on contemporary practitioners. In short, you should watch the movie.

Initially, Heidi Norton’s Prismatic Nature at the Elmhurst Art Museum looks very trendy—live plants are all the rage. However, Norton is arguably one of the reasons why there is a plants-in-the-gallery trend in the first place. With the addition of all of this literal and literary content to peruse, Prismatic Nature has a distinct emphasis on research—though not the dry, didactic kind…